I have been reading serious topics lately in the Daily Kos. I wanted to put something light, not to distract from the serious issues, but to freshen you guys up. Although this diary is supposed to be light, I do, in fact, believe that, besides bringing the troops back home, bringing the Metric System back in is of utmost importance.
Have you ever wondered, like many of your parents and teachers, how are students in Asia and Europe better in mathematics than their American counterparts? I’ll tell you how. It’s because they use the metric system. Yes, the answer is that simple.
I wonder, sometimes, what genius came up with the idea of using the ounces, pounds and miles system (OPM system) in America. Say that acronym faster and it sounds like "opium", the thing that the OPM system’s author must have been smoking when he/she came up with the so-called brilliant idea.
I, personally, always have a hard time using the opium system. I cannot keep track of how many ounces make a pound, or how many grams make an ounce, or how many grams make a pound, or how many liters make a gallon. Also, what’s up with the term gallon? When I grew up, I learnt that a "gallon" meant a plastic container. But, then, I could have had bad English teachers in my kindergarten.
Anyways, how many ounces make a pound? Is it 8, 16 or 32? I, to this day, do not know that for sure. It would be so easy to memorize if it were 10 or 20 or 30. Also, how many grams are there in a pound? I think it’s something like 442 or 452. It would be a lot easier if it were exactly 400 or 500. And how many liters are there in a gallon? I think it is 2.2, but I may be wrong. A mile is, I think, 1600 meters.
Now consider the metric system used in Asia and Europe: 10 millimeter is a centimeter. 10 centimeter is a decimeter. 10 decimeter is a meter. 1000 meter is a kilometer. There are no miles. Grams and Kilograms are measured the same way. There are no pounds. The metric system is very easy to follow and memorize. On the other hand, the OPM system is confusing and difficult to memorize. No wonder many American students give up on their numbers and mathematics after their second or third grade when they start learning the opium system.
Also, what’s a yard? Whose yard? Your yard or my yard? That four-foot tall guy’s yard or that seven-foot tall guy’s yard?
Last but not the least, how much is a barrel? What’s wrong with liters and kiloliters? If it’s too many kiloliters for you, make up a new easy-to-memorize unit. For example: let’s say 10,000 kiloliters is a "megaliter" or something. Also, doesn’t "barrel" actually mean a big container? I have not understood this American fascination for containers.
I think the OPM system is one of the biggest conspiracies designed by the American government. They don’t want the ordinary folks to become smart by getting their math right. So they devised this elaborate "opium" system to ‘drug’ (pun intended) the regular folks and make them dumb (no offense intended), right from the beginning, starting from the kindergarten classes.
And the government has succeeded so far because most American students have developed "mathophobia"—an aversion to mathematics and anything mathematics related. Mathophobia may be a small disease to the individual, but it is the plague for the government. Why do you think the public keeps buying SUVs in record numbers even when the gas prices keep increasing every day? It’s because the mathophobic public doesn’t know its math.
So, the next time you meet your local representative, tell them that if you truly want No Child Left Behind, leave the OPM system behind. Bring the metric system back in. And, by the way, if you have not realized it yet, the No Child Left Behind policy is the cousin of the "opium" system.
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P.S. The next time you meet your local representatives, ask them to bring back the metric system. (Okay, that's just a joke).
P.P.S. The word "mathophobia" and "mathophobic" are copyrighted. Anyone interested in using it should email mickthesick.